When pure powdered cocaine is mixed with water and ammonia or baking soda, a solid crystal-like substance is produced which is known all over as crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is highly addictive because of the anesthetic effect that it brings the user, and when the user’s body develops a tolerance to the effects of crack cocaine, the usual next course of action would be to increase its dosage rendering it more dangerous for the user and sooner or later, a person develops a dependence on the drug making it extremely hard to treat.
The reason why many are reeled in to crack abuse is because of the many psychedelic effects that it brings and this is made possible because crack cocaine sends out huge amounts of dopamine, a brain enzyme that enables a person to experience euphoria but the amazing feeling is short-lived lasting usually a mere five minutes, ten minutes the longest and when the dopamine levels in the brain radically, the effect would be utter lethargy and depression and when the body yearns for more to combat the low feeling, addiction sets in.
While the effects of crack cocaine are transitory and fleeting in nature, its withdrawal symptoms are exactly the opposite. Some of the crack cocaine withdrawal issues/symptoms most common among those who are trying to quit and those who are unable to sustain their addiction include body tremors, stupor, momentary anxiety and a feeling of being ill at ease, and when untreated it may lead to delicate depression, hallucinations, even psychosis, seizures (may occur for years), arrhythmia, and other physiological and psychological dysfunctions. Continuous abuse of crack cocaine sooner or later ultimately leads to further deterioration of different body organs such as the liver, lungs, and the heart eventually paving the way to potential respiratory or cardiac arrest.
But the most damning withdrawal issue in the use of crack cocaine is that of craving. When the human gets so used to operating with crack cocaine powering it, it sends signals to the brain commanding the body to take action and feed it again with the substance otherwise it will not function properly. And that is the very reason why people who get addicted to crack seem to have lost the ability to live without it and they act as slaves to the substance. The challenge in treating crack cocaine addiction is to convince the body that it can function properly without the drug.
